Simple or complex amps?

[BahamaDada]

Define "complex"? Is a JVM already complex?

Okay, I'll be team complex.

The Ironheart I have is pretty... complex, yes. It's fun on some days and hell on others.

 

[RaceU4her]

depends really, if im in a band playing different places that might need some tweaks room to room, i dont want to deal with my iic+ that can go from god tier to god awful just by blowing on the knobs or eq, id rather just use my triple rec. in the studio though, ill take the iic+ and the versatility

 

[laxu]

Amps with a lot of features tend to be less focused in their design and often don’t sound as good as an amp that’s designed with a specific sound and response in mind. If there’s a lot of modes and switches, then it can mean you need to discover those yourself, which while fun, can mean there’s more bad/average sounds than good.

Yet often the manufacturer's vision does not fully meet what the user truly wants. That's why I think e.g switchable bright caps, voicing switches and such are useful for many amps. Otherwise you need to try tube rolling, speaker/cab swapping or go all the way for amp mods to make it exactly like you prefer.

As an example, on my BluGuitar amps I use the little tone knobs on the side to tailor each channel to whatever cab I'm using as well as personal preference. Similarly the different modes, power scaling options etc on my Mesa Mark are useful to make it sound and feel like I prefer.

That said, I'd swap the "bold" switch on the clean channel and the thick/normal switch for the Mark 1 mode for something more useful any day.

There are also some amps where there's exactly one permutation of tweaking switches that sounds the best.

 

[la szum]

Always both/and. Just depends on the set and setting. What does the music call for?

 

[Chocol8]

I think the Mark amp is one of those amps that doesn’t compromise tone for complexity. There are gold standard tones in every channel

Yeah, they tend to have the tone down, and don't compromise there, but the serviceability is horrific. That's the necessary trade off for putting the features and tones into a reasonably sized package at a fairly reasonable price point. Hard to criticize Randall's choices, they are iconic amps for a reason, even if they give me nightmares!

 

[Stratzrus]

Always both/and. Just depends on the set and setting. What does the music call for?

"Whatever it takes...Whatever the party calls for!" - George Clinton

 

[GLiDE-BPM]

I have a few point to point single and multiple channel amps, but this is my $weet Baby!!!

 

[keef]

My amps are all simple, I get confused very easily. I did have channel switchers at one point. Had a few Boogie Man amps (Maverick, Mark III, Son of Boogie and Rivera). If I recall, I liked the Rivera the best for the cleans and reverb (the last of my amps that reverb).

 

[Shask]

I dont use many sounds, so simple is fine for me. Even if an amp has a ton of switches and channels, I pretty much stick to one setting. The problem is most simple amps dont do the high gain stuff I like without the other stuff.

That is one reason I like the Synergy stuff. It is like... simple complex. Simple in using, but complex in the way you can use it.

 

[newholland]

kinda in the middle to full caveman. modern mesas have too much stuff and too many dials. im with whoever said mesa marks are a happy medium- i have a mark iib and its just enough for most things and most volumes. the crap part about a lotta simple amps is that you run into volume constraints. i LOVED a dr z carmen ghia... but by the time you got it heated it was pretty loud for a lotta things, and not always loud enough for others. but horses for courses!

 

[BFRaid]

I prefer simple. I do use a Carvin X100B for rehearsal, but set it and forget it fairly straightforward. In the studio, it is an AC30 and JCM 2000, simple seems simpler to get to the tone I want quickly.

 

[GreatGreen]

For vintage tones that use poweramp distortion, simple is best.

For modern tones that generate all the sound in the preamp and only use the power section as a built-in clean PA, simple vs complex front panels don’t really matter in terms of the quality of the tone in my experience.